IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v70y2015icp400-415.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crime and Erosion of Trust: Evidence for Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Corbacho, Ana
  • Philipp, Julia
  • Ruiz-Vega, Mauricio

Abstract

Trust links citizens to the institutions intended to represent them and to one another. By reducing trust, crime has the potential to grind down social capital and become an obstacle to development. This paper analyzes the relationship between individual victimization and trust in Latin America using an empirical strategy that reduces both overt and hidden biases. Victimization significantly reduces vertical trust (in the local police) but has no robust effect on measures of horizontal trust. Governments need to reduce actual victimization but also rebuild trust in local public institutions to enhance the effectiveness of crime prevention efforts.

Suggested Citation

  • Corbacho, Ana & Philipp, Julia & Ruiz-Vega, Mauricio, 2015. "Crime and Erosion of Trust: Evidence for Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 400-415.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:70:y:2015:i:c:p:400-415
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.04.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X14001211
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.04.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paolo Buonanno & Daniel Montolio & Paolo Vanin, 2009. "Does Social Capital Reduce Crime?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(1), pages 145-170, February.
    2. Carlos Medina & Jorge Andrés Tamayo, 2011. "An Assessment of How Urban Crime and Victimization Affects Life Satisfaction," Borradores de Economia 640, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    3. Horváth, Roman, 2013. "Does trust promote growth?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 777-788.
    4. Akçomak, İ. Semih & ter Weel, Bas, 2012. "The impact of social capital on crime: Evidence from the Netherlands," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 323-340.
    5. Andrea Ichino & Fabrizia Mealli & Tommaso Nannicini, 2008. "From temporary help jobs to permanent employment: what can we learn from matching estimators and their sensitivity?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 305-327.
    6. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-1288.
    7. Hans Westlund & Frane Adam, 2009. "Social Capital and Economic Performance: A Meta-analysis of 65 Studies," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(6), pages 893-919, November.
    8. Kenneth E. Fernandez & Michele Kuenzi, 2010. "Crime and Support for Democracy in Africa and Latin America," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58, pages 450-471, June.
    9. Bateson, Regina, 2012. "Crime Victimization and Political Participation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(3), pages 570-587, August.
    10. Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc, 2010. "Inherited Trust and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2060-2092, December.
    11. Tommaso Nannicini, 2007. "Simulation-based sensitivity analysis for matching estimators," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 334-350, September.
    12. Paolo Buonanno & Giacomo Pasini & Paolo Vanin, 2012. "Crime and social sanction," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(1), pages 193-218, March.
    13. Alesina, Alberto & La Ferrara, Eliana, 2002. "Who trusts others?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 207-234, August.
    14. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    15. Luisa Blanco & Isabel Ruiz, 2013. "The Impact of Crime and Insecurity on Trust in Democracy and Institutions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 284-288, May.
    16. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    17. Patrick Francois & Jan Zabojnik, 2005. "Trust, Social Capital, and Economic Development," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(1), pages 51-94, March.
    18. Soares, Rodrigo R., 2004. "Development, crime and punishment: accounting for the international differences in crime rates," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 155-184, February.
    19. José Cuesta & Erik Alda, 2012. "The effects of trust on victimization in Colombia," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 49(6), pages 833-846, November.
    20. Norman Loayza & Pablo Fajnzylber & Daniel Lederman, 2000. "Crime and Victimization: An Economic Perspective," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2000), pages 219-302, August.
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/432sbils8u9t7qa99cii5psht1 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. repec:gig:joupla:v:2:y:2010:i:3:p:99-128 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Ahlerup, Pelle & Olsson, Ola & Yanagizawa, David, 2007. "Social Capital vs Institutions in the Growth Process," Working Papers in Economics 248, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    24. Baliamoune-Lutz, Mina, 2011. "Trust-based social capital, institutions, and development," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 335-346, August.
    25. Kenneth E. Fernandez & Michele Kuenzi, 2010. "Crime and Support for Democracy in Africa and Latin America," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(3), pages 450-471, June.
    26. Blanco, Luisa R., 2013. "The impact of crime on trust in institutions in Mexico," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 38-55.
    27. Rafael Di Tella & Robert MacCulloch & Hugo R. Ñopo, 2008. "Happiness and Beliefs in Criminal Environments," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 6518, Inter-American Development Bank.
    28. Tommaso Nannicini, 2007. "A simulation-based sensitivity for matching estimators," United Kingdom Stata Users' Group Meetings 2007 15, Stata Users Group.
    29. Sascha O. Becker & Andrea Ichino, 2002. "Estimation of average treatment effects based on propensity scores," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 2(4), pages 358-377, November.
    30. repec:gig:joupla:v:3:y:2011:i:1:p:29-64 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Angelo Cozzubo & Elard Amaya & Juan Cueto, 2021. "The social costs of crime: the erosion of trust between citizens and public institutions," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 93-117, June.
    2. Jetter, Michael & Kristoffersen, Ingebjørg, 2018. "Financial shocks and the erosion of interpersonal trust: Evidence from longitudinal data," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 162-176.
    3. Waiphot Kulachai & Sutham Cheurprakobkit, 2023. "Why Do People Trust the Police? A Case Study of Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-11, February.
    4. Clément, Matthieu & Piaser, Lucie, 2021. "Do inequalities predict fear of crime? Empirical evidence from Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    5. Alessandro, Martin & Cardinale Lagomarsino, Bruno & Scartascini, Carlos & Streb, Jorge & Torrealday, Jerónimo, 2021. "Transparency and Trust in Government. Evidence from a Survey Experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    6. Haiyang Lu & Peishan Tong & Rong Zhu, 2020. "Does Internet Use Affect Netizens’ Trust in Government? Empirical Evidence from China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 167-185, May.
    7. Velásquez, Daniel & Medina, Santiago & Yamada, Gustavo & Lavado, Pablo & Núñez, Miguel & Alatrista, Hugo & Morzan, Juandiego, 2018. "I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: The Effect of Crime News Coverage on Crime Perception and Trust," IZA Discussion Papers 12056, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Foa, Roberto Stefan, 2022. "Decentralization, historical state capacity and public goods provision in Post-Soviet Russia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    9. Friehe, Tim & Do, Vu Mai Linh, 2023. "Do crime victims lose trust in others? Evidence from Germany," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    10. Xiangdan Piao & Xinxin Ma & Tetsuya Tsurumi & Shunsuke Managi, 2022. "Social Capital, Negative Event, Life Satisfaction and Sustainable Community: Evidence from 37 Countries," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1311-1330, June.
    11. Paolo Buonanno & Irene Ferrari & Alessandro Saia, 2023. "ALL IS NOT LOST: Organized Crime and Social Capital Formation," Working Papers 2023: 16, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari", revised 2024.
    12. Robert Gillanders & Olga Neselevska, 2018. "Public Sector Corruption and Trust in the Private Sector," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(8), pages 1288-1317, November.
    13. Matteo Pazzona, 2020. "Do victims of crime trust less but participate more in social organizations?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 49-73, March.
    14. Velásquez, Daniel & Medina, Santiago & Yamada, Gustavo & Lavado, Pablo & Nunez-del-Prado, Miguel & Alatrista-Salas, Hugo & Morzán, Juandiego, 2020. "I read the news today, oh boy: The effect of crime news coverage on crime perception," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    15. Fahlberg, Anjuli & Velasquez, Maya & Wise, Harper & Simon, Tori, 2023. "Tangential Movements: How feminist organizing against gender-based violence offers an alternative avenue for protesting drug violence in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    16. Campedelli, Gian Maria & Daniele, Gianmarco & Martinangeli, Andrea F.M. & Pinotti, Paolo, 2023. "Organized crime, violence and support for the state," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    17. Fabián Riffo & Daniela Pérez & César Salazar & Andrés Acuña, 2019. "¿Qué influye en la confianza en las instituciones? Evidencia empírica para Chile," Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, vol. 27(2), pages 83-104, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matteo Pazzona, 2020. "Do victims of crime trust less but participate more in social organizations?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 49-73, March.
    2. Blanco, Luisa R., 2013. "The impact of crime on trust in institutions in Mexico," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 38-55.
    3. Angelo Cozzubo & Elard Amaya & Juan Cueto, 2021. "The social costs of crime: the erosion of trust between citizens and public institutions," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 93-117, June.
    4. Crinò, Rosario, 2012. "Imported inputs and skill upgrading," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 957-969.
    5. Erhardt, Eva Christine, 2017. "Microfinance beyond self-employment: Evidence for firms in Bulgaria," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 75-95.
    6. Paolo Naticchioni & Silvia Loriga, 2011. "Short and Long Term Evaluations of Public Employment Services in Italy," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 57(3), pages 201-229.
    7. Candon, David, 2018. "The effect of cancer on the labor supply of employed men over the age of 65," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 184-199.
    8. Andrea Ichino & Fabrizia Mealli & Tommaso Nannicini, 2008. "From temporary help jobs to permanent employment: what can we learn from matching estimators and their sensitivity?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 305-327.
    9. Krenz, Astrid & Strulik, Holger, 2019. "Menstruation hygiene management and work attendance in a developing country," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 364, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    10. Simone Bertoli & Francesca Marchetta, 2014. "Migration, Remittances and Poverty in Ecuador," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(8), pages 1067-1089, August.
    11. Hoi, Chun Keung(Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2019. "Does social capital mitigate agency problems? Evidence from Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 498-519.
    12. Erhardt, Eva, 2017. "Microfinance beyond self-employment: Evidence for firms in Bulgaria," MPRA Paper 79294, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Origo, Federica, 2009. "Flexible pay, firm performance and the role of unions. New evidence from Italy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 64-78, January.
    14. Maren Duvendack & Richard Palmer-Jones, 2012. "High Noon for Microfinance Impact Evaluations: Re-investigating the Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(12), pages 1864-1880, December.
    15. Borra, Cristina & Iacovou, Maria & Sevilla, Almudena, 2012. "The effect of breastfeeding on children's cognitive and noncognitive development," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 496-515.
    16. Ángela Rocío López Sánchez & Andrés Felipe Virgüez Clavijo & Jaime Andrés Sarmiento Espinel & Adriana Carolina Silva Arias, 2015. "El efecto de la gerencia privada de escuelas públicas en el desempeno estudiantil en la educación media en Colombia," Revista Ecos de Economía, Universidad EAFIT, vol. 19(41), pages 108-136, December.
    17. Candon, David, 2015. "The effects of cancer on older workers in the English labour market," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 74-84.
    18. Martin Binder & Alex Coad, 2013. "Life satisfaction and self-employment: a matching approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1009-1033, May.
    19. Jetter, Michael & Kristoffersen, Ingebjørg, 2018. "Financial shocks and the erosion of interpersonal trust: Evidence from longitudinal data," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 162-176.
    20. Accetturo, Antonio & Bugamelli, Matteo & Lamorgese, Andrea R., 2017. "Law enforcement and political participation: Italy, 1861–65," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 224-245.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    crime; beliefs; trust; social capital;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:70:y:2015:i:c:p:400-415. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.